Facile synthesis of Cu-doped BiVO4 using domestic microwave-assisted chemical precipitation method with fleeting time of microwave irradiation for the photocatalytic application

AbstractSemiconductor-based visible light active photo-catalyst has been synthesized through microwave-assisted chemical precipitation method under acidic pH with minimal time of reaction using microwave irradiation. The monoclinic crystal phase of the material with no impurity is confirmed with XRD data. We can observe slight left shift after doping with copper (Cu) in 2Θ peak of XRD data. SEM analysis exhibits a gradual change in morphology with the increase in doping concentration. UV–Vis data confirms an improvement in absorption with the increase in dopant concentration. PL analysis further clarifies the change in recombination rate of photo-induced charge carriers. Photocatalysis has been tested with methylene blue (MB) synthetic dye. The maximum percentage of degradation was determined to be 61.08% and it is obtained for 0.25% Cu-doped BiVO4. It is also observed that 0.25% Cu-doped BiVO4 has lower energy band gap value, i.e., 2.03 eV and lesser PL intensity than pure un-doped BiVO4. The HRTEM analysis proves that 0.25% Cu-BiVO4 is well crystalline in nature with the d spacing corresponding to (121) plane of BiVO4.Keywords: BiVO4photocatalysismicrowavemethylene blueacidic pH AcknowledgmentsThe authors B.V and S.M would like to acknowledge the financial support from DST-SERB through the project EMR/2017/004096.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by DST-SERB through the project EMR/2017/004096.